Legislation and Regulation

Legislation and Regulation

Any serious entrepreneur or business person knows that planning correctly and minimising the amount of tax he or she pays to HMRC when selling a business is essential. What is more it is clear that higher earners are likely to be taxed even higher in the future with the announcement of the 45% tax band. We take a look at one way in which sellers of businesses can pay little or no tax on the sale of their businesses by using an Employee Benefit Trust (EBT)

When buying or selling any business it is essential that a lawyer is able to advise you on all aspects of the transaction. On purchase of a business you are buying all its liabilities and you may need to get indemnities to protect yourself from anything going too wrong.

When buying all or part of a business, it is important to be aware that you will inherit not only its employees, but the responsibility to honour all existing contracts, conditions of employment and any ongoing disputes, tribunal claims and collective agreements relating to those employees.

Entrepreneurs' Relief is a concession to the small business community who felt that the loss of business taper relief was an unfair tax on those selling their businesses to fund their retirement. Updated for the June 2010 Budget.

When buying a business, VAT must be considered. If not addressed quickly, issues to do with VAT can at best prove an unneeded additional complication and can result in delays to closing the deal. At worst, it can end up costing you a lot of money.

When planning the sale of a business, the tax implications should never be overlooked. With careful planning and advice, maximum value can be extracted from the sale. Often, however, hard-earned gains unnecessarily slip through the vendor's fingers into the coffers of the Inland Revenue.

Floating on AIM allows a company to offer share incentives to its staff, raise its profile, and take advantage of certain tax benefits. However, a flotation is not always in a company's best interests, and there are many factors to consider.

With debt funding still difficult to obtain,
other forms of finance for corporate
acquisitions are becoming more attractive.
Most particularly vendor finance is becoming
more popular. Essentially, these are seeing
whether the vendor may be willing to defer
payment of part of the purchase price.